Students will be able to identify the functional roles that organisms play in ocean ecosystems. How do human-induced changes in ocean conditions affect biodiversity, and thereby the health and resilience of a coral reef? Students explore and discuss the direct and indirect impacts that ocean acidification can have on species, food web dynamics, ecosystem function, and commercial resources. At the end of this unit the students should be able to articulate how changes in ocean chemistry can create negative outcomes for humans who depend on living ocean resources.

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In this activity for undergraduate students, learners build a highly simplified computer model of thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean and conduct a set of simulation experiments to understand the complex dynamics inherent in this simple model.

This short video from NASA discusses the role that salinity plays in Earth's climate and ocean circulation, focusing on the observations of the Aquarius satellite.

El Niño is marked by the appearance from time to time of warm water in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. The end result of the evaporative process that follows is excessive rainfall.

This short video is an excerpt from the longer video Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification, produced by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). This short version summarizes the science of ocean acidification as well as the social implications.

This lesson applies the science and math of the rotation of a sphere to water and wind movements on Earth. Students are introduced to convection, the Trade Winds and the Coriolis Force. Using an online visualizer, students generate trajectories and then analyze course patterns and latitudinal changes in strength. Note that this is lesson two of five on the Ocean Motion website. Each lesson investigates ocean surface circulation using satellite and model data and can be done independently. See Related URL's for links to the Ocean Motion Website that provide science background information, data resources, teacher material, student guides and a lesson matrix.

This model of ocean-atmosphere interaction shows how carbon dioxide gas diffuses into water, causing the water to become more acidic. The video demonstration and instruction provide an explanation of the chemistry behind this change and the consequences of ocean acidification. The video also addresses a misconception about how ocean acidification affects shelled organisms.

This National Geographic video explains the origins of the El NiÃo Southern Oscillation using animations and shows the impacts on humans, wildlife and habitat, particularly in the United States.

This article examines the ocean's role in heat absorption and carbon dioxide absorption. The consequences of changes in those, as well as in ocean water salinity, are discussed. The article is part of the Climate Kids website, a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.

In this activity, students learn about sea ice extent in both polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic). They start out by forming a hypothesis on the variability of sea ice, testing the hypothesis by graphing real data from a recent 3-year period to learn about seasonal variations and over a 25-year period to learn about longer-term trends, and finish with a discussion of their results and predictions.

This simulation allows students to explore the change in sea surface pH levels with increasing CO2 levels.

One of Earth's vital signs, the extent of sea ice cover in the Arctic, is examined. An image and accompanying text describe the extent and consequences of the reduction in that sea ice. This article is part of the Climate Kids website, a NASA education resource featuring articles, videos, images and games focused on the science of climate change.

In the north Atlantic, the American Lobster is the undisputed king of crustaceans. It‰ŰŞs also a tremendously important commercial catch. While all the other fisheries are collapsing, why are lobsters resisting the trend? In this video, Jonathan goes out with a Maine lobsterman to learn why, and he dives down below to find the biggest lobsters he has ever seen. This segment won a New England Emmy Award! Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

This well-designed experiment compares CO2 impacts on salt water and fresh water. In a short demonstration, students examine how distilled water (i.e., pure water without any dissolved ions or compounds) and seawater are affected differently by increasing carbon dioxide in the air.

Hands-on laboratory activity that allows students to investigate the effects of distance and angle on the input of solar radiation at Earth's surface, the role played by albedo, the heat capacity of land and water, and how these cause the seasons. Students predict radiative heating based on simple geometry and experiment to test their hypotheses.

This activity allows students to examine graphs of sea level rise data as well as global temperature data. They calculate amounts and rates of sea level rise for various time periods and answer questions discussing the data. They then compare the sea level rise trends to those in a graph of temperature data.

This video describes how to select a soil infiltration study site, and demonstrates procedures used when taking soil infiltration in the field. Instructions for fabricating a necessary piece of field equipment, a dual-ring soil infiltrometer, are provided. The resource includes a video and a written transcript, and is supported by the Soil Infiltration Protocol in the GLOBE Teacher's Guide. This is one of five videos about soils in the 24-part instructional video series describing scientific protocols used by GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program.

They have big, sharp teeth, long eel-like bodies, and they look like they could bite your fingers right off‰ŰÓbut Jonathan can pet them. They‰ŰŞre Wolffish, and in this video Jonathan visits both Atlantic and Pacific species. You won‰ŰŞt believe the amazing encounters he has with these friendly but mean-looking fish. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

This video introduces phytoplankton - the base of the marine food web, the source of half of the oxygen on Earth, and an important remover of CO2 from the atmosphere. The video also explains how satellites are used to monitor phytoplankton and how warming waters and acidification negatively affect phytoplankton.

A comprehensive analysis of all the components of the climate system (atmosphere, ocean, ice sheets, etc) and of all the interactions between them is out of the scope of any course or book. We have thus chosen here to provide only a brief overview of the processes that rule the behaviour of those different components. More detailed descriptions are provided in meteorology, oceanography and glaciology courses for instance. Our first goal here is rather to provide enough information on the interactions between the different elements of the climate system and on the dominant feedbacks to allow the student to analyse the variability of the climate and its response to a perturbation. By this mean, the reader should be able to understand the dominant causes of past climate changes and to critically evaluate the projections of the climate change over the next centuries or millennia.

Because of the complexity of the climate system, many analyses devoted to a quantitative estimate of climate change or climate variability rely on the use of comprehensive three-dimensional numerical models. However, simple models are also widely used to underline clearly the fundamental properties of the climate. Our second goal is thus to give the student the bases to understand how climate model are built and how they could be used to make quantitative estimate of climate variability and climate change as well as to illustrate how models could be used to understand the most important concepts of climate science.

This digital textbook was reviewed for its alignment with California content standards.


This online textbook could be followed section by section, presenting first the climate system and its components, then the way various types of climate models are developed and used, and finally the application of those concepts to the analysis of the climate during different periods.


This textbook presents all aspects of climate system dynamics, on all timescales from the Earth's formation to modern human-induced climate change. It discusses the dominant feedbacks and interactions between all the components of the climate system: atmosphere, ocean, land surface, and ice sheets. It addresses one of the key challenges for a course on the climate system: students can come from a range of backgrounds. A glossary of key terms is provided for students with little background in the climate sciences, whilst instructors and students with more expertise will appreciate the book's modular nature. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter for readers to test their understanding. This textbook will be invaluable for any course on climate system dynamics and
modeling, and will also be useful for scientists and professionals from other disciplines who want a clear introduction to the topic.


- Covers all aspects of climate system dynamics and modelling for students, scientists and professionals

- Makes links between various relevant disciplines: atmospheric dynamics, physical and chemical oceanography, geology and numerical analysis

- Basic mathematical developments are presented but the concepts are also explained with words and illustrations

- Includes a full glossary and extensive end-of-chapter review exercises with solutions in the back of the book; the interactive models are also available online with regularly updated PowerPoint slides, including additional figures